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The paper examines the role cluster initiative management can play for women entrepreneurs in small medium enterprises in the South African informal sector economy as forms of employment. It looks inter-relationally into aspects that heighten awareness and significance of entrepreneurial development of women. The concept of cluster initiative management at local, national, regional and global levels in relation to rural women in the informal economy is of note. The paper contextualizes the cluster notion as an important approach especially for small and medium-sized enterprises to survive and compete successfully in changing business environments while identifying key issues for due consideration. The notion of clustering has evolved over time and four domains of women's economic empowerment are put forward. Methodology in the paper follows an exploratory study premised on reviewing existing literature through dimensions of cluster initiative management and its relevance in women entrepreneurial development. Findings of the study provide insights and recommendations into the provision of a favourable environment for cluster initiatives to flourish and draws attention of key policy-makers in decision-making that supports sustainability of women entrepreneurs towards self-employment in informal sectors of the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While previous research on opting out has been mainly about women who leave their careers altogether, the purpose of this paper is to follow a broader definition of opting out to investigate the process and experience of women developing agency as they leave masculinist career patterns to adopt alternative career solutions. Design/methodology/approach: Building on an interdisciplinary framework and a narrative approach, this paper analyses the opting out and in processes of women managers in Finland and the USA. Findings: This paper demonstrates four micro-strategies that the women used to develop individual agency in their processes of opting out of masculinist career models and opting in to alternative solutions for work. These micro-strategies are redefining career success, transcending boundaries, renegotiating working conditions and keeping in touch with professional networks. Practical implications: Organisational leaders can use the knowledge of the strategies that empower women in their opting out processes when making decisions regarding working practices. In order to retain their employees, organisations should be supportive of employees' individual agency and their participation in developing work structures, as well as providing more opportunities for two-way blurring between work and family instead of the current one-way blurring where work spills over to family life, increasing work-family conflict. Originality/value: This paper develops a framework to better understand women's agency during the process of opting out of corporate careers and opting in to solutions like part-time work and self-employment, deepening the current understanding of these solutions and presenting the micro-strategies they use to develop reflexive agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the four specific dimensions, namely financial support, Government support, personal traits factors contributing to success, and challenges faced by rural women entrepreneurship. The focus was on the SME sector in Bengaluru, rural India. This paper uses a quantitative research methodology with a structured questionnaire. Data were collected using the face-face interview to study the fifty respondents of rural women entrepreneurs. The study highlights that Financial support, Government support, and personal traits play a significant role in encouraging rural women to engage in entrepreneurial activities and influence decisions. Each factor being interrelated, achieving the integration among them will considerably enhance entrepreneurial success. The main limitation is the narrow scope, emphasizing only four factors and their interrelations. There are implications for further work on other types of capital. The study being SMEs specific limits generalization. It contributes insights into the need for MSMEs examinations in the review of the literature. Rural women's entrepreneurship needs align with understanding government and institutional financial supporting factors and their interrelations. The role of Government and other institutions varies between prior and non-prior entrepreneurial experience. This study provides information on the role of Government and institutional financial support factors on rural women entrepreneurship. It contributes to a better understanding of how each variable is accumulated and utilized in rural women entrepreneurship development using SMEs' perspective in Bengaluru Rural, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the gender role congruity theory, in this paper, we propose that the association between gender diversity and venture performance changes when roles played by individuals are not coherent with the gender-derived expectations of their ascribed social group. We test our theory in the context of early stage financing, investigating how gender diversity between entrepreneurs and VC managers influences the investment performance of VC-backed firms. Our sample consists of 5800 VC managers, who invested in 5075 different ventures in the period 2000–2019 and of 16,713 venture founders. We find that gender diversity is associated with better performance only when a female entrepreneur is matched to a male VC manager. Our analysis sheds light on the presence of several factors that moderate the observed association, related to the VC's ability to provide value-added services to the invested ventures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the coping strategies utilized by Muslim women entrepreneurs in the country‐specific context of crises‐laden Lebanon. In so doing, we capitalize on a qualitative interpretative methodology, drawing upon in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews. We present empirical evidence detailing how women entrepreneurs utilize Muslim feminism and various Islamic practices and values as means of coping with crises situations and contexts. We also provide insights into how the doing of gender unfolds as a coping strategy enabled by Muslim feminism in the advent of adversities. Hence, we underscore the importance of approaching religion as a social construct which is performed, as opposed to treating religion as something located outside the spheres of gender and economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the paradoxical impact of political legitimacy by exploring the relationship between legitimacy due to political inclusion by the state and subsequent strategic actions by entrepreneurs in both domestic and global contexts in a transition economy. We argue that political legitimacy conferred by the state affects a firm's strategies in different ways because it is associated with both benefits and constraints. Using a unique dataset of more than six thousand privately owned enterprises in China, we demonstrate that after an institutional change that permitted the inclusion of entrepreneurs into an elite political system (the Communist Party of China) in 2001, private firms became more motivated to invest in their domestic production but less incentivized to form international cooperation strategies. We further find that the impact of the legitimacy from political inclusion on domestic production was less pronounced for firms in places where the market economy was more established and when entrepreneurs are female. For entrepreneurs with past work experiences in the government or in state-owned enterprises, the negative impact of political inclusion on global cooperation was strengthened. These findings have important implications for research on legitimacy, entrepreneurship, and business strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Asian Journal of Women's Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) throughout the world are facing a very complicated crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic and other structural challenges. This study is aimed at demonstrating the challenges faced by SMEs, particularly the struggles that women entrepreneurs of SMEs in Indonesia experienced to survive against these structural issues: COVID-19, digital presence and the male-dominated business sector in the country. Focusing on female-owned businesses in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, this paper carefully considers how social media platforms helped these businesses to continue. Using a descriptive quantitative approach, we collected data from 130 respondents and found that the COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected women entrepreneurs—especially those operating small and medium enterprises. They have experienced reduced income due to decreased sales, disrupted supply chains, difficulty paying credit instalments, and lack of access to government assistances. This study further sheds light on social media's important role in sustaining women-owned businesses. Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram have become the new tools through which women promote their products and reach new audiences. To overcome this issue, we advise a stronger government intervention to women-owned SMEs in the post-pandemic. Aside from managing social media for selling, we recommend women-owned small companies to internally intensify digital engagement, promotions, coupled by innovative products and attractive offers such as discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile technology has irrevocably altered the barrier between work and personal time. Instead of thinking of the work-life boundary along one segment-integrate continuum, this research shows it is comprised of three dimensions: flexibility, home-boundary permeability, and work-boundary permeability. The purpose of this paper is to examine how professional women maintain boundaries between work and personal life, and whether those boundaries vary based upon age, motherhood, or age of youngest child. This paper uses responses from 189 women who were working full-time to examine flexibility and the permeability of the work and home boundary. Of the examined boundary types examined, women with no flexibility and a permeable home boundary reported the most work-family conflict. Furthermore, findings indicate that working mothers had a more permeable home boundary than non-parents. This research expands the traditional segmentation/integration boundary definition to consider three dimensions (flexibility, home permeability, and work permeability) to define how working women enact a work-life boundary and how those decisions influence work-family conflict, work satisfaction, and life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: When examining women's economic activity, it should be emphasised that related issues are a relatively new research direction, and an understanding of the specifics of the subject seems particularly important given that the number of women starting businesses in recent decades has been characterised by a permanent upward trend. The aim of this article is to present - against the background of the literature on the subject and empirical data collected by governmental institutions operating in the European Union - the entrepreneurial activity rate of women in Poland over a ten-year period (2012-2021). Materials and Methods: The article is based on reports and working papers published by Eurostat and the Central Statistical Office (CSO). To calculate the data presented in the publication, mathematical analysis tools were used in the field of comparative research, the occurrence of trends and the indication of existing trends and noticeable increases. Results: Poland's twenty-first position compared to other EU Member States points to unlimited development opportunities and the need to support this economic space at every level of economic activity. This conclusion is reinforced by the statistics achieved by the opposite sex - men - which showed an upward trend over the period studied (2012-2021). This is also confirmed by the value of the calculated median female gross salary, which is lower by EUR 126.2 than the median male gross salary in Poland. Practical implications: A defined indicator of female entrepreneurship will allow recommendations to be tailored for state bodies and local government institutions supporting women's economic activity in Poland as well as in other EU countries with a similar economic structure. Conclusion and summary: Visible discrimination against women appears in the analysis of the average gross salary at different organisational levels in Poland, which can be used as an argument to support and create additional aid programmes to support women's economic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The analysis of female entrepreneurship in Serbia is the main topic of this paper. The analysis of entrepreneurship takes into account the underrepresentation of women in the self-employed population. Studies analyzing entrepreneurial intention, self-efficacy, and self-perceived employability similarly show a lower representation of women choosing the professional path of entrepreneurs. Studies on institutional support for women who participate in entrepreneurship programs are rare. Therefore, determining how participation in institutionally sponsored active labor market policy programs influences the growth of female entrepreneurship in Serbia is the purpose of this paper. According to the results of this research, Serbia has a substantial gender difference in self-employment. Less than one-third of business owners are women. Women made up almost half of those taking part in entrepreneurship training. In 2021 and 2022, they received more than half of all subsidies for entrepreneurs. However, these findings do not significantly affect the trend of self-employment in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many Chilean women employers desire domestic workers who are also 'partners' or 'someone to do life with'. Taking 'partnership' or 'compañerismo' seriously, this paper draws on an affective labor framework and economic sociology to examine how care and power operate in affective and highly commodified labor relations between Chilean women employers and migrant Filipina domestic workers. We contextualize this discussion within historical relations of servitude in Chile and salient demands for more horizontal social and gender relations. We show that rather than reinforcing power or control, employers' emphases on affective aspects of the labor relation enable their willful ignorance of power hierarchies, through normalizing the racialized presence of the worker in the household. However, explicit talk about money exposes the material conditions of affect and care in this racialized affective relationship. This reveals the uneven distribution and production of both care and power in the household, and highlights the disruptive nature of care work as affective labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Arenal.Revista de Historia de las Mujeres is the property of Arenal. Revista de Historia de las Mujeres and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper seeks to use social capital theory to explain how impoverished women may find success and lift themselves out of poverty. The research addresses three unique, significant areas of study. First, by reviewing relevant theory and research on livelihood creation and social networks, a new lens for examining social capital in the context of poverty is provided. Second, a model is tested examining the role of an entrepreneur's social capital resources on the development of their own livelihood creation and the consequential changes in the entrepreneur's lifestyle. The research finds that weak social network ties are positively related to livelihood creation, with counter-intuitive results regarding lifestyle changes in response to the changes in livelihood creation. Third, the above model is applied to female entrepreneurs, utilizing a sample of women associated with SEWA (Self-Employed Women's Association), a network broker and business incubator trade union working in impoverished communities in and around Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to provide relevant knowledge about entrepreneurship and women's leadership in the Indian context. More specifically, it unleashes the veiled challenges as well as success stories of select women entrepreneurs of a developing country to bridge the gap between entrepreneurship theory and practice. It aims to provide directions to the policymakers, educationists, society and families in creating a conducive environment that is essential for the success of women entrepreneurs. Design/methodology/approach: With a qualitative case study approach, data were collected from Tamil Nadu, a southern Indian state which has a maximum number of women entrepreneurs. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to explore the supportive as well as challenging dimensions of their entrepreneurial journey. Findings: Content analysis of the interview transcripts indicated that successful entrepreneurs are opportunity-driven and they focus on innovation, service, generation of wealth and employment. Support from family, especially from fathers or husbands, is as important as the entrepreneurial drive, skills and abilities of an entrepreneur. Success for them is being happy, thriving work, having a happy family, having a great work-life balance and the satisfaction to have served society apart from being independent (economically/ financially). Among India's societal and cultural realities, women have to conquer many hurdles (both implicit and explicit) in their way concerning the societal attitudes toward women stepping out of the home boundaries and traditional gender role expectations. The silver line is societal attitudes are changing, especially in urban India. There are enough support and encouragement from the family, which helps these women pursue their passion and eventually become a successful leader. Social implications: The success stories of women will bring a wave of positive developmental change in India by fostering respect for women in a male-dominated society and flashing the importance of women's entrepreneurship. Originality/value: This paper provides a new examination of women entrepreneurs that significantly further the debate about the underrepresentation of women in leadership roles, especially in entrepreneurship in an emerging economy context like India. Apart from the deterrents, it aims to highlight the enablers and motivations to choose this unconventional profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a comparative ethnographic approach to explore the ways in which social media enables new economic strategies that capitalize on women's traditional forms of reliance within their local communities. We use ethnographic examples from northern Chile, southeast Italy, and south India to show how women are successful in establishing small but prestigious entrepreneurial activities by using social media to respond to local social and cultural needs. Women use social media to transform both conventional work practices and individuals' notions of work in ways that overcome important structural constraints they face in their respective communities. These findings contrast with optimistic analyses that suggest online platforms decrease global inequalities through bringing disadvantaged people into global economic flows. This article demonstrates the effective ways in which individuals use social media to gradually change local norms related to gender and work while making small but important gains towards economic stability. This process is related to important shifts in sociality that have resulted from social media use within local communities. By focusing on entrepreneurship and gendered aspects of online economic exchange, we develop an understanding of what happens when longstanding expectations for gendered work meet commerce made possible through new media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to highlight findings from research presented at the 2007 International Academy of African Business and Development Conference in London, UK. Design/methodology/approach - A select group of papers were chosen from the proceedings and presentations made at the conference for this report. The International Academy of African Business and Development Conference draws participants from the USA, Europe, Africa and Asia. Findings - Research findings from the empirical studies indicated women and people of color face continue to face barriers in employment and the workplace. Women continue to experience gender role stereotypes detrimental to their careers and entrepreneurial endeavors. Originality/value - The research papers selected give some insight into the issues of gender and diversity from a cross-cultural perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on female entrepreneurship is blooming and largely points to the challenges that women face in establishing and running a business, with a particular focus on access to information, finance and networks. Surprisingly, little is known on the role played by digital technologies in driving changes in female entrepreneurship. While academic research is starting to analyze the role that digital technologies play in entrepreneurial ecosystems, the gender perspective remains largely unexplored. In this paper, we outline contributions that intend to enlarge and thicken our understanding of whether and how women entrepreneurs leverage new digital technologies in the creation and conduct of new ventures in order to overcome the hurdles they face. We conclude with a promising new line of research to our understanding of whether and to what extent new digital technologies provide an opportunity space in the creation and conduct of new ventures for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intends to explore the role that spatial context plays in women's engagement in rural entrepreneurship. Positioned in a social constructivist perspective, spatial context is taken not as a background, but rather as an entrepreneurial milieu with its elements constructed and experienced. This paper argues that in order to understand how spatial context influences and is being influenced by women's engagement in entrepreneurial activities, scholars need to move away from considering spatial context as merely geographical locations, which allow for free flowing social relations and exchanges, and look at it as an active ingredient that may influence the entrepreneurial process. The paper theorises entrepreneurship as not merely an economic process but also a social-spatial process which draws from spatial structures as entrepreneurs embed within their context. The qualitative examination of women's engagement in rural entrepreneurship finds that spatial context plays a key role in shaping the process of engaging through thinning and/or thickening women's entrepreneurial agency. However, recognition, realisation and utilisation of spatial resources depend on the entrepreneurs' understanding of the spatial structures. This paper's contribution lies in its illustration of the role of spatial context in entrepreneurial processes, in particular for marginalised rural women. The paper furthers the understanding of spatial context as an entrepreneurial milieu for enhancing literature about women and entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the role of support from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in enhancing the socio-economic welfare of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania using CARE International - Tanzania as a study platform. Based on a study that was conducted on Dar es Salaam women entrepreneurs who have been supported by Care International at Bunju ward in Kinondoni district, the paper examines the extent to which entrepreneurship training, financial support and business networking influence the socio-economic welfare of women entrepreneurs. Data were collected from 74 randomly selected respondents using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Frequencies, Percentage, Mean and Standard deviations were descriptively computed for quantitative analysis whereas in-depth-interview quotes from key informants were used for qualitative data. The paper established that training and business network constructs had significant contribution on the socio-economic welfare of the women entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, the availability of meagre financial support from the NGOs was found to undermine entrepreneurial activities of women entrepreneurs and, thus, its influence was found to be weak. This paper recommends that specific training programmes, especially on areas of managerial, production and marketing skills are important for the improvement of socio-economic welfare. Moreover, much more strong networks need to be developed and nurtured for the betterment of socioeconomic welfare of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the differences between men and women with regard to entrepreneurial activity is well-acknowledged, few scholars have explored models explaining the differences through an objectivist lens. This research addresses this gap by investigating the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action, moderated by entrepreneurial competencies (ECs). This paper draws from two psychology theories to develop and test a three-factor model of entrepreneurial action. The structuration theory formulates a theoretical model that explains how entrepreneurs' interaction with their environment, and their concomitantly learned behavioral scripts (i.e., entrepreneurial competencies), impacts a newly formulated typology of entrepreneurial gestation activities based on the mindset theory of action phases. Furthermore, the ECs in this paper are drawn from a systematic framework of entrepreneurship competency development, which categorizes ECs into (1) entrepreneurial attitudes and personal characteristics and (2) entrepreneurial motives. By dividing entrepreneurial action into a predecisional, preactional, and actional phase, a novel approach is used in taking the context of the entrepreneurial process into account. It is proposed that prior entrepreneurial exposure is a significant and positive predictor of future entrepreneurial action in the predecisional and preactional phases. However, once entering the actional phase, this factor is no longer important, as women entrepreneurs have crossed the entrepreneurial Rubicon. The sample consists of South African entrepreneurs of which 346 women entrepreneurs and a sample of 804 male entrepreneurs are used to compare the results of the first hypothesis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to model the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action. Results confirm that prior entrepreneurial exposure in the form of role models, entrepreneurial parents, or any other form of exposure to entrepreneurship before starting a business is particularly important to encourage women to pursue business start-up (action). Furthermore, the development of certain ECs is crucial for improving the strength of the relationship between prior entrepreneurial exposure and entrepreneurial action for women entrepreneurs. These results have important implications for women entrepreneurs, educators, as well as entrepreneurship models, which have been traditionally male dominated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper presents an international overview of Indigenous women entrepreneurship and consequentially develops the indigenous-gendered integrated perspective applied to the analysis of this emerging and promising research theme. Within the analytical tools of intersectionality and positionality, the complexity of IWE is outlined as well as the intersections discussed. The paper explores how the intersection of Indigenous entrepreneurship and Women entrepreneurship can contribute to the understanding of IWE and what theoretical and practical implications this can have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women entrepreneurship is a very neglected and overlooked issue worldwide. Womenrun enterprises put women in the center of the market, which is traditionally maledominated. Studies show that even though women entrepreneurs are disadvantaged, businesses founded by women deliver more than those founded by men, making women entrepreneurship a significantly better investment for financial backers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the framework of social perception of women entrepreneurship in India and Macedonia. It will compare Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's (GEM) indicators of both countries and plot them against the best and worst social perceptions of women entrepreneurs globally. The paper will demonstrate what it takes to promote and improve women entrepreneurship for women to run strong and viable enterprises. This paper strives to send a message to decision makers for designing better policy strategies for women entrepreneurship environment; for enhanced social perception and attitudes; for better promotional strategies; and for support and access to finance for women entrepreneurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of women entrepreneurs running MSMEs in South Wales, a region characterised as having a weak entrepreneurial culture compared to other parts of the UK (Fotopoulos and Storey, 2017). One reason for this weakness is perceived to be a lack of entrepreneurship education and in this paper we investigate the hypothesis behind this - that more entrepreneurship education has a positive effect on business success. The investigation consisted of three parts; a set of 59 questions (n=150), followed by a series of face-to-face interviews (n=37), and finally some detailed discussions (n=5). The main finding is that the hypothesis that entrepreneurship education makes a positive contribution to the success of women entrepreneurs needs to be modified to reflect the fact that it is entrepreneurial learning through technologically enabled networks that has such an effect, as it no longer makes sense in the age of social media to separate education from asynchronous networked learning, or to separate the technology from the networking within that learning. The practical implication of this research is that enterprise education courses and programmes designed to support female entrepreneurs need to take better account of the way such women learn. The limitation of the research is that the sample is from a relatively technologically enabled population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is crucial for the development of any country. Starting a business is always challenging for people that want to become entrepreneurs, especially for women. It is necessary to encourage the development of entrepreneurship as a way of solving the unemployment rate of groups in the society that have a problem with the employment. Women are one of those special groups and that is also one of the reasons why women entrepreneurship is becoming a very important topic all around the world. The aim of the paper is to show the main characteristics of women entrepreneurship and to show the main problems that women are facing every day in a business world. Different recommendations for the improvement of women entrepreneurship in Croatia are presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women entrepreneurship is as an important source of economic growth that can create new jobs for the entrepreneurs themselves and others. Therefore, involvement of women into the business also provides society with different solutions to management, organization and business problems. Unfortunately, in the Republic of North Macedonia, women still represent a minority of all entrepreneurs. This paper is about women entrepreneurship in North Macedonia, challenges and opportunities for its development, as well as problems that Macedonian women entrepreneurs are facing. Some of the main challenges that they face include: funding opportunities, lack of information, and knowledge of how to run and manage business as well as the challenge to balance the work and family engagements. On the other hand, in the Macedonian economy there is an existence of opportunity gaps that women entrepreneurs can fulfill in many sectors. In accordance to this, the paper will contain a secondary analysis of the sector, based on case studies of existing enterprises that are being run by women. Conclusions and recommendations will be indicated based on the current trends in the country as well as a comparative analysis of the existing companies in different regions and sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's world where there are large improvements is seeing in all the fields of society and professions. Where entrepreneurship was considered as the male dominant concept but today's world where women are also take participations in all streams and becomes the doctors, engineers, astronauts, scientists and so on. Women are also becoming entrepreneurs so the research paper endeavors to understand the present position of women entrepreneurship in Punjab as to give emphasize on women empowerment. Woman is the base of the society which leads the families as well as the nation. This research study is empirical in its nature and it focuses on SME's which are ruined by women in Punjab. Primary survey has been conducted and responses are collected from the women entrepreneurs and the collected data has been analyzed with SPSS by using the ANNOVA technique. And the results indicated that unemployment, availability of funds, wish to earn more money, technical education, family background, job dissatisfaction and experience are found as the key parameters of women entrepreneurship in Punjab. These identified factors are found associated with women entrepreneurship. The research paper provides the clear picture of status of women entrepreneurship in Punjab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight key trends, challenges, and opportunities for advancing women’s entrepreneurship and increasing their access to finance. Design/methodology/approach – Due to their high-growth potential, women-owned SMEs in developing countries are of particular interest. The International Financial Corporation and McKinsey built a detailed database for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises. The data derived from the readily available global data sets provide coverage of a large number of countries and national statistics. Findings – Since financing is an important means by which to pursue growth opportunities, addressing the specific needs of women entrepreneurs (WE) in accessing finance must be part of the development agenda. Practical implications – This paper offers valuable practical insights to policy makers to establish a supportive, enabling environment that will facilitate access to financial services for WE in their respective countries; lead efforts to identify, evaluate, and support the replication of successful models for expanding financial services to WE; and lead efforts to gather gender-disaggregated data on small-, and medium-sized enterprise finance in a coordinated fashion. Originality/value – The value of this paper is that it offers insightful information about key trends, challenges, and opportunities for advancing women’s entrepreneurship and increasing their access to finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gender & Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Despite an increase in the share of female-owned existing and new start-up firms in Senegal, there is still wide belief that female entrepreneurs are discriminated against in the credit market. This paper empirically investigates such gender-based discrimination, and the extent to which it might be translated into lower performance. Using firm-level data and a methodological approach that consists of the data envelopment analysis, an endogenous switching regression and a propensity score matching, the paper suggests that there is no such thing as gender-based discrimination, and to the extent that they benefit from credit, female reap equal returns from the funds, efficiency-wise. These results do not however call for the abandonment of gender-biased public policies aiming at promoting access to credit and entrepreneurship, but suggest they be grounded on more robust footings such as managers' education, firms' ownership, sectorial activities, and geographical locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glass ceiling is a well-recognized phenomenon in the corporate sector thwarting aspirant women to gain senior management positions. It is an indiscernible barrier and a strong ceiling blocking women moving up in the management hierarchy. This paper, however, explores the existence of the second glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs who escaped the corporate world to start their businesses but are trapped by another glass ceiling. This research mainly explores the existence of a second glass ceiling for women entrepreneurs and the ways they used to get through it. This study is conducted for an in-depth understanding and uses the phenomenological approach. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with women entrepreneurs of Lahore. This paper apart from explaining the second glass ceiling also finds solutions to break it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to assess the possible contribution of formalizing small-scale women entrepreneurs' food processing enterprises in northern Ethiopia to their empowerment or disempowerment. The rationale for evaluating this contribution to (dis)empowerment is to provide updated and policy-relevant knowledge on the issue, including assessing if the critiques of the formalization agenda are still valid or whether the situation may have changed. The main finding suggests that formalization offers limited opportunities for empowering small-scale, resource-poor women entrepreneurs in northern Ethiopia. The contribution of formalization to women's (dis)empowerment varies among the various categories of participants in different ways and forms. Some better-off women entrepreneurs benefitted from formalization in some dimensions; however, this is not the case for most of the women entrepreneurs included in the study. Instead, for the poorer women entrepreneurs, formalization rather led to disempowerment. In conclusion, if formalization in Ethiopia harms or disempowers poor women entrepreneurs rather than benefits them, this paper suggests a need for a major change in policies and practices related to the formalization and women empowerment agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how entrepreneurs achieve a sense of purpose or, more precisely, eudaimonic well-being—the experience of a good and meaningful life. We explore this in the context of women entrepreneurs participating in a business training program in Nigeria. Specifically, we conduct mixed-methods research, starting with an inductive qualitative Study 1 of what eudaimonic well-being means for these entrepreneurs. We find that, in the context of their enterprises, eudaimonic well-being implies opportunities to experience self-cultivation, mastery, social recognition, and to benefit others in the community. Unexpectedly, the women in our study also experience eudaimonic well-being related to their households. These initial insights inform theory in Study 2 on how enterprise-related learning (i.e., acquiring and assimilating knowledge regarding the enterprise) and household-related learning (acquiring and assimilating knowledge regarding the household) influence their eudaimonic well-being, itself driven by strong social ties with other women entrepreneurs in the training program. Hypotheses testing through a quantitative study of 484 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria over time corroborates the theory. Our research provides a contextualized perspective of "purpose" in entrepreneurship and how to achieve it: by developing strong social ties, enabling enterprise- and household-related learning, women entrepreneurs in our context initiate greater eudaimonic well-being, beyond improving firm performance. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.15341. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we apply a feminist interpretation and an extension of Bourdieu's theory of practice to explore the gap in our understanding between gender gap issues – the institutionalized and structural inequalities that underpin the differential access to resources by women and men – and women business owners. Drawing on an interpretivist analysis of the lived experience of women entrepreneurs who were members of women-only or open-to-all formal entrepreneurship networks, we examine their enculturation and the strategies they employ to be deemed credible players in the field. We conclude that women-only formal entrepreneurship networks have had a limited impact on helping these women overcome the isolating and individualizing effects of a gendered entrepreneurial field. Despite the promise of familiarization with and sensitization to the field, women-only formal entrepreneurship networks only serve to perpetuate and reproduce the embedded masculinity of the entrepreneurship domain in the absence of appropriate activating mechanisms or 'margins of intervention'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women in patriarchal societies face cultural barriers hindering them in pursuing entrepreneurship. For example, women are hindered by gender roles, male dominated networks and expectations that they take of the family. Recently, scholars have argued that digital technologies may provide women with avenues to bypass these barriers. Yet, there is little knowledge about how female entrepreneurs engage with digital tools, and how this may help them bypass gendered, cultural barriers. Using 18 interviews with female entrepreneurs in Beijing and Shanghai, we identify four affordances (virtual networking, online learning, opportunity creation and scaling-up) that women use to overcome the cultural barriers to entrepreneurship. We find that through engaging these affordances, the women feel empowered and able to challenge traditional structures. Our paper contributes to recent work in digital and women entrepreneurship as we unpack how women actively create affordances, such as female friendly communities, and how they skilfully use new digital technologies to try to disrupt traditional industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study evaluates the availability of capacity-building programs for women entrepreneurs and investigate the main challenges that women entrepreneurs face. 258 women entrepreneurs were randomly selected from six randomly selected zones in the SNNPR using a two-stage selection technique. Paper Assisted Personal Interview (PAPI) method was used to acquire quantitative data from women entrepreneurs. In addition, key informant interviews and focus group discussions with government officials and women entrepreneurs were conducted. Quantitative data were interpreted using inferential statistics such as proportion tests, pairwise proportion tests, and chi-square test, while qualitative data was analyzed using the thematic method. We found that training, marketplace, and cooperative services are relatively easily provided and implemented, while credit and market information are challenges for women entrepreneurs. Financial constraint is a main problem. Findings show that government and other bodies are working to strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs but that implementation is the weak link. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research dealing with the adoption of various precision agriculture technologies has shown that guidance and recording tools are more widespread than reactive ones (such as variable rate technology), with much lower utilization rates in European case studies. This study aims to analyze the propensity to innovate variable rate technologies among young Italian farmers. A cluster analysis was carried out revealing four groups. The first two groups represent non-adopters who think technological innovation is very complex from a technical point of view, as well as not very accessible as capital-intensive technology. The third and fourth groups represent adopters. The third reports an early level of adoption, still considering the cost of access a major barrier to technology implementation. The fourth, on the other hand, shows a more intensive level and considers the lack of institutional support a major limitation. The cluster with the most intensive adoption is characterized by the youngest age group, the farms with the largest size, and a prevalence of female entrepreneurs. The need for management training in day-to-day business operations upon adoption is detected for all groups. This paper identified relevant drivers and barriers in characterizing the adopting farm of variable rate technologies. Results may offer insights to the policy maker to better calibrate support interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Indonesian Journal of Business & Entrepreunership is the property of IPB University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One of the greatest challenges in business consulting is to help clients quickly grasp how the products and services you offer will improve their organizations. As businesswomen whose adult lives have been spent implementing behavioral solutions in large companies and complex organizations, we have amassed experience and advice for those who seek to help others achieve sustainable improvements through behaviorally based solutions. It starts with getting them to understand and believe in what you are proposing. This paper outlines advice and strategies gained over three decades of marketing and implementing behavioral solutions in large organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As with many other male-dominated sports, for over a century of its history, Australian Rules Football organizations resisted and undermined women's participation in the game. The first league for women footballers commenced in Victoria in 1981. Since then, the growth in women's participation has been substantial, and in 2017, a professional women's Australian Football League (AFLW) commenced. The next phase of the participation of women in football is approaching, and heralds an opportunity for women to (re)gain power within the sport. In October 2019, thirty percent of women players rejected the proposed Collective Bargaining Agreement from the Australian Football League (AFL), with the underlying sentiment of wanting a stronger voice in the vision for the future of their game. This paper examines how changing participation rates in community football can transform the narrative of women's football from one of subsidized welfare to women players being necessary for the survival of football. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this study is to provide a general overview regarding the increased inequality due to Covid-19 in various areas and this all had an integrated effect on women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the globe and in Vietnam. Research Design & Methods: The data is collected using various research papers and the reports accessing the inequalities across the world and in Vietnam. The methodology used is compiling the various reports to provide general overview as how Covid-19 has fuelled existing inequalities and providing overview of the situation the women-owned SMEs are facing in this challenging time of pandemic. Findings: The results from the study suggest that the inequalities in various areas have increased such as inequality between and within different countries, employment sector inequalities, gender inequalities, educational inequalities, age-related inequalities and all these has created a wider gap between the barriers faced by men and women across the globe. The women-owned SMEs has found to have the higher challenges in Vietnam as compared to men-owned SMEs. Implications & Recommendations: The current literature identified the increasing inequalities of women in various countries and particular in SMEs in Vietnam. There are several studies conducted in developed countries to determine the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs, but there is dearth of studies conducted in Vietnam, especially to study the effect of Covid-19 on the women entrepreneurs. It is important to conduct this kind of study in Vietnam on women SMEs to study the impact of Covid-19 to understand the barriers the women might have faced and how the government can provide the appropriate support to women entrepreneurs in the future which further can help in empowering the women in Vietnam and helping the economy to grow. Contribution & Value Added: This paper provides the general overview of increased inequalities in various areas and in particular women-owned SMEs in Vietnam which is not summarized in earlier studies conducted in Vietnam and hence this study aims to contribute to fill this gap in the literature and provided an avenue for the future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In European countries, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is persistently observed because females make up on average 30 percent of entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of gender gaps in education at different levels (youth, higher education, adult learning and STEM education) on the gender gap in entrepreneurship, both in all analyzed European countries and in identified clusters of countries. The research is based on the cluster analysis and regression modelling of yearly panel data for 31 European countries for the period 2013–2018. Generally speaking, to the same extent, the gender gap in entrepreneurship can be explained by the gender gap in educational outcomes at different levels, mostly in early leavers and in STEM education. However, European countries are not monolithic in these aspects, as four clusters of countries are identified. Relationships between the gender gaps strongly depend on the country's characteristics. In countries with a relatively lower level of female entrepreneurship and their education outcomes, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is affected the most significant in comparison to other clusters, by gender gaps in early leavers, higher education and STEM education. However, in clusters of countries with relatively moderate or high levels of female entrepreneurship and education outcomes, their relationships are rather limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]